History
The club’s roots can be traced to 1896 when the Royal and Ancient game made its way to America and the Belmont Golf Association (BGA), the forerunner of the Aronimink Golf Club, spun off from the Belmont Cricket Club. A year later, the Belmont Golf Association teamed up with Philadelphia Country Club, Merion Cricket Club and Philadelphia Cricket Club to form the Golf Association of Philadelphia, the first sectional golf association in the United States. By 1897 the BGA had a full nine holes in play at 52nd Street and Chester Avenue, its first location, in what is today the heart of West Philadelphia. Playing to a length of 3,070 yards, par for the course was established at 36½. In that same year, the BGA was the first and only founding club to host its own championship. The tournament was won by Hugh Wilson who designed Merion’s golf courses.
History has it that Aronimink was named after the chief of the Lenape tribe who once occupied the small farmhouse being used as the original clubhouse. From inception to the mid-1920s, as the City of Philadelphia continued to expand, Aronimink operated from three different sites. Finally, in 1926 the club sold its Drexel Hill location and purchased a large 300-acre (1.2 km2) tract in Newtown Square, 15 miles (24 km) from the center of Philadelphia.
Scottish-born Donald J. Ross, at the time one of the country’s most respected golf course architects, was commissioned to design the new course, which opened for play on Memorial Day in 1928. The greens, fairways and hazards of his championship course design are the same today as they were in 1928. The Club’s impressive British-inspired clubhouse was designed by architects Charles Barton Keen and Franklin D. Edmonds, a member of the club.
Aronimink has been home to many accomplished golfers in its history. The first American-born winner of the U.S. Open, John McDermott, was an Aronimink caddie who learned to play golf from Aronimink’s longtime head golf professional, Walter Reynolds. Notable members from the modern era of golf include: Gary Player (an honorary member since 2003), Sean O'Hair (PGA professional and home-town favorite) and Jay Sigel (the distinguished amateur and senior professional golfer). Currently, Aronimink’s head golf professional is Jeff Kiddie.
Aronimink gained media notoriety when it withdrew itself from plans to host the 1993 PGA Championship because it didn't have any current or prospective African-American members or applicants before the start of the tournament. The club has since met all of the PGA's minority membership requirements and has hosted both a senior PGA and a USGA event since 1993.
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